(by Steve Hopkins)
All four of the top spots shuffled in the latest World Rankings. Lin Shidong rode his Singapore Smash win all the way to World No. 1. Wang Chuqin dropped one position to World No. 2. Liang Jingkun jumped up one spot to No. 3, overtaking Tomokazu Harimoto who falls one spot to No. 4.
The other big shift was Alexis Lebrun moving up four spots to World No. 10. The rest of the Top 10 is Felix Lebrun at No. 5, Calderano at No. 6, Moregard at No. 7, Franziska at No. 8, and Dang Qiu at No. 9.
China has four players in the Top 20 (the top three slots noted above plus Lin Gaoyuan at No. 11). Germany also has four players in the Top 20 (Franziska at 8, Qiu at 9, Duda at 16, and Ovtcharov at 20). France (Lebrun brothers) and Sweden (Moregard and Kallberg) are the only other countries with multiple players in the Top 20.
Kanak Jha headlines positive news for TeamUSA in the rankings. Jha has moved up 12 spots on the strength of his Singapore Smash results and he is now No. 44 in the World Rankings. While No. 44 is a big accomplishment, its worth noting that he is the top player in North America and he is the second highest in the Western Hemisphere (behind Hugo Calderano). Ma Jinbao (No. 81) is the second highest playing under the USA flag and we also have Nandan Naresh (No. 145), Sid Naresh (No. 148), and Jishan Liang (No. 177) in the Top 200.
Very little movement on the Women’s side of the rankings. Eight Chinese players appear in the Top 20 (led by Yingsha, Manyu, Yidi, Xingtong who hold positions 1-4), and six Japanese players join them in the Top 20. Hing Hayata is the top non-Chinese player at No. 5, Bernadette Szocs is the top European player at No. 14, and Adriana Diaz (No. 16) is the first to appear in the rankings from outside of Europe and Asia.
USA’s Lily Zhang jumped up 10 spots to No. 42. She is the third highest ranked player from our hemisphere (behind Diaz of Puerto Rico and Takahashi of Brazil). Amy Wang dropped two slots to No. 80. USA’s other players in the top 200 include Sally Moyland (up 33 spots to No. 128), Jessica Reyes Lai (up 6 spots to No. 161), and Jiangshan Guo (up 5 spots to No. 167).
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